The “blame game” is common when it comes to workers compensation claims. Employers are often quick to point fingers at every potential cause other than their own liability. I like to remind my clients, however, that the facts are far more powerful than a pointed finger.

I recently represented an employee who was severely injured when a large electronic control panel fell on him. On the date of the accident, my client was tasked with removing control panels with a crow bar — a job for which he was not properly trained. At one point, his crowbar slipped and a panel tipped, slamming into his shoulder and crushing his leg. My client was hospitalized for several days for, among other injuries, fractures in his leg. When he was released from the hospital, he was advised to attend follow-up appointments, but this became financially difficult once my client learned that his employer and its insurance company had denied his claim.

The employer/insurer in this matter based the denial on evidence that my client had marijuana in his system, arguing that he was intoxicated at the time of the accident. Because a urine test administered on the date of the accident showed traces of marijuana, the employer/insurer established a rebuttable presumption that the accident was caused by ingestion of marijuana.

The employer/insurer introduced an expert  to testify as to the drug test. On cross examination, this expert made our case when he  admitted that he could not verify with a reasonable degree of medical certainty that my client was in fact  impaired at the time of the accident based on a urine test, regardless of how high the marijuana levels were. The expert had to admit that marijuana can stay in a person’s system for days, weeks, or even a month.

My client testified that he had not smoked marijuana the morning of the accident or during his break preceding the accident. He was not impaired at the time of the accident, and the employer/insurer provided no other evidence or witnesses to impeach my client. We even presented a witness, a current employee of the Employer that denied the claim, who was working with my client that day and he testified for my client, that he neither saw my client do any drugs on the day of the accident nor observed any behavior that would indicate my client was impaired. Despite this evidence, the Employer /Insurer fought hard against paying my client what he is entitled to receive under Georgia Law.

Despite the Employer/Insurer’s denial, the Judge determined that my client suffered work-related injuries and demonstrated through “clear, positive and un-contradicted evidence that the presence of marijuana was not the cause of employee’s accident/injuries.” He found that it was more likely than not that the employer’s unsafe movement practices caused the panel to fall.  The Judge awarded my client weekly benefits for each week that he missed work from the date of the accident through the present and continuing and he granted my client medical benefits, including payment of outstanding medical expenses totaling over $100,000.00.  The Judge further ordered the Employer/Insurer to pay for continuing medical treatment. The Employer/Insurer’s denial of the claim initially resulted in a loss of control of medical treatment meaning that the Employee gained the right to control and choose the treating physicians.

In response to the employer/insurer’s appeal of this award, the Appellate Division for the State Board of Workers Compensation affirmed the Judge’s decision in its entirety. The employer/insurer appealed to the Superior Court. The Superior Court also found against the Employer/Insurer’s defense and affirmed the Judge’s decision in its entirety.

I couldn’t have been more pleased with this outcome because it was very clear that the employer’s own improper procedures caused my client’s injuries. My client was in no way impaired, and the employer’s own expert witness was ultimately used against them when he had to admit on cross that a positive urine test (for marijuana) does  not prove impairment at the time of the accident. As an experienced workers’ compensation attorney, I’ve built my career on representing clients in whom I have confidence. And any time the blame game begins, I am glad to fight hard for each and every client because I know that I have the truth on my side.